[Elfsea] Bardic

[willowjonbardc at juno.com]

Bardic was very nice this Friday. We had 11 bards compete for the cloak. They were very good and they beat me. Lord Noburaggd (Jacob) took the cloak. He did a story that rated just slightly behind Lord Finninan's and Master Cedrick's works. That is saying a lot because I feel they are the two best storytellers in the SCA. 

I was very pleased to see such quality of work. The Bard of Elfsea, Xian is promoting firewalking. I know some of you have told me you don't like Bards because you said a lot of them were not very good, but many of you have stated that you miss the performers. Many of the merchants and troll people said that the wandering performers were something you looked forward to. When we did the Golden Hoard many of the Oaks of the Steppes and the Roses donated to encourage firewalking. We need to come up with some etiquette to make sure the bards do not offend. 
First place I believe that the performers should ask if it is all right to perform at this time. It is OK to say No. "No, not at this time." will be OK.  Please realize that the bards are not in contact with each other so you might have to say it a couple of times. If you don't want to be bothered at all you could hang a "No bard, Please", sign. If you want bards hang a sky blue banner or a bunch of blue ribbons or just welcome us when we come in. Sometimes a bunch of performers will come just into the light of a campsite. Welcome them in if you want them or just shake your head no if you do not. 

Ideally the performers should do a piece each,not more than 3min. After three pieces by different people or one piece by each one the performers should stop. If you would like more you should say "Please go on." If you are tired just say "Thank you for your pieces." If you like them you might give something as Largess, (Cookies are nice? drink even water) or you might invite the crew back latter in the night. It is all right to want to go back to your conversations with your friends. The performers may do an upbeat parting piece. 
Bards should never kill a party. Try to leave the energy as high or higher than when you got there. 
Often the people hosting the fire will have a household performers or will want to perform themselves. It is proper courtesy to listen to those performances. 
We have had problems in the past. I believe if we use a little common sense we can overcome those problems. 

Duchess Willow de Wisp


___________________________________________________________________
Get Juno Platinum for as low as $6.95/month!
Unlimited Internet Access with 250MB of Email Storage.
Visit http://www.juno.com/bestoffer to sign up today!